Herbert Hoover | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Herbert Hoover Before serving as America's 31st President from 1929 to 1933, Herbert Hoover had achieved international success as a mining engineer and worldwide gratitude as "The Great Humanitarian" who fed war-torn Europe during and after World War I. Son of a Quaker blacksmith, Herbert Clark Hoover brought to the Presidency an unparalleled reputation for public service as an engineer, administrator, and humanitarian. Born in an Iowa village in 1874, he grew up in Oregon. He enrolled at Stanford University when it opened in 1891, graduating as a mining engineer. He married his Stanford sweetheart, Lou Henry, and they went to China, where he worked for a private corporation as China's leading engineer. In June 1900 the Boxer Rebellion caught the Hoovers in Tientsin. For almost a month the settlement was under heavy fire. While his wife worked in the hospitals, Hoover directed the building of barricades, and once risked his life rescuing Chinese children.

One week before Hoover celebrated his 40th birthday in London, Germany declared war on France, and the American Consul General asked his help in getting stranded tourists home. In six weeks his committee helped 120,000 Americans return to the United States. Next Hoover turned to a far more difficult task, to feed Belgium, which had been overrun by the German army. After the United States entered the war, President Wilson appointed Hoover head of the Food Administration. He succeeded in cutting consumption of foods needed overseas and avoided rationing at home, yet kept the Allies fed. After the Armistice, Hoover, a member of the Supreme Economic Council and head of the American Relief Administration, organized shipments of food for starving millions in central Europe. He extended aid to famine-stricken Soviet Russia in 1921. When a critic inquired if he was not thus helping Bolshevism, Hoover retorted, "Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed!" After capably serving as Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Harding and Coolidge, Hoover became the Republican Presidential nominee in 1928.

He said then: "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land." His election seemed to ensure prosperity. Yet within months the stock market crashed, and the Nation spiraled downward into depression. After the crash Hoover announced that while he would keep the Federal budget balanced, he would cut taxes and expand public works spending. In 1931 repercussions from Europe deepened the crisis, even though the President presented to Congress a program asking for creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to aid business, additional help for farmers facing mortgage foreclosures, banking reform, a loan to states for feeding the unemployed, expansion of public works, and drastic governmental economy. At the same time he reiterated his view that while people must not suffer from hunger and cold, caring for them must be primarily a local and voluntary responsibility. His opponents in Congress, who he felt were sabotaging his program for their own political gain, unfairly painted him as a callous and cruel President. Hoover became the scapegoat for the Depression and was badly defeated in 1932. In the 1930's he became a powerful critic of the New Deal, warning against tendencies toward statism.

In 1947 President Truman appointed Hoover to a commission, which elected him chairman, to reorganize the Executive Departments. He was appointed chairman of a similar commission by President Eisenhower in 1953. Many economies resulted from both commissions' recommendations. Over the years, Hoover wrote many articles and books, one of which he was working on when he died at 90 in New York City on October 20, 1964. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. For more information about President Hoover, please visit Herbert Hoover - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Google Early Years Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa–the first U.S. president to be born west of the Mississippi River. He was the second of three children in a family of Quakers, who valued honesty, industriousness and simplicity.

His father, Jesse Clark Hoover (1846-80), worked as a blacksmith, and his mother, Hulda Minthorn Hoover (1848-84), was a teacher. Orphaned at age nine, Hoover was raised primarily by an uncle in Oregon . Did You Know? On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a law that made "The Star-Spangled Banner," based on an 1814 poem by Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), America's national anthem. After attending Quaker schools, Hoover became part of the first class to enter Stanford University when it opened in 1891. He graduated four years later with a degree in geology and launched a lucrative career as a mining engineer. Intelligent and hardworking, Hoover traveled all over the world to find valuable mineral deposits and establish business enterprises to extract the resources. His work made him a multimillionaire.

On February 10, 1899, Hoover married his college sweetheart, Lou Henry (1874-1944), and the couple had two sons, Herbert (1903-69) and Allan Henry (1907-93). Humanitarian Work At the start of World War I (1914-18), Hoover dedicated his talents to humanitarian work. He helped 120,000 stranded American tourists return home from Europe when the hostilities broke out, and coordinated the delivery of food and supplies to citizens of Belgium after that country was overrun by Germany. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) appointed Hoover head of the Food Administration. Hoover encouraged Americans to reduce their consumption of meat and other commodities in order to ensure a steady supply of food and clothing for the Allied troops. Once the war ended, Hoover, as head of the American Relief Administration, arranged shipments of food and aid to war-ravaged Europe.

He earned worldwide acclaim for his humanitarian efforts, as well as thousands of appreciative letters from people across Europe who benefited from the free meals known as “Hoover lunches.” Hoover’s success earned him an appointment as secretary of commerce under President Warren Harding (1865-1923), and he continued in this position under President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933). During the fast-paced modernization of the 1920s, Hoover played an active role in organizing the fledgling radio broadcasting and civilian aviation industries, and also laid the groundwork for the construction of a huge dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada . (Named for Hoover, the dam opened in 1936.) The Great Depression In the U.S. presidential election of 1928, Hoover ran as the Republican Party’s nominee. Promising to bring continued peace and prosperity to the nation, he carried 40 states and defeated Democratic candidate Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944), the governor of New York , by a record margin of 444-87 electoral votes. “I have no fears for the future of our country,” Hoover declared in his inaugural address.

“It is bright with hope.” On October 24, 1929–only seven months after Hoover took office–a precipitous drop in the value of the U.S. stock market sent the economy spiraling downward and signaled the start of the Great Depression. Banks and businesses failed across the country. Nationwide unemployment rates rose from 3 percent in 1929 to 23 percent in 1932. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes and savings. Many people were forced to wait in bread lines for food and to live in squalid shantytowns known derisively as Hoovervilles . Hoover undertook various measures designed to stimulate the economy, and a few of the programs he introduced became key components of later relief efforts. However, Hoover’s response to the crisis was constrained by his conservative political philosophy. He believed in a limited role for government and worried that excessive federal intervention posed a threat to capitalism and individualism. He felt that assistance should be handled on a local, voluntary basis. Accordingly, Hoover vetoed several bills that would have provided direct relief to struggling Americans.

“Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury,” he explained in his 1930 State of the Union address. Post-Presidential Years The Depression worsened throughout Hoover’s term in office, and critics increasingly portrayed him as indifferent to the suffering of the American people. By the time of the 1932 presidential election, Hoover had become a deeply unpopular–even reviled–figure across much of the country. Carrying only six states, he was soundly defeated by Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt , the governor of New York, who promised to enact a slate of progressive reforms and economic relief programs that he described as a New Deal for the American people. After leaving office, Hoover emerged as a prominent critic of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. He wrote articles and books outlining his conservative political views and warning about the dangers of investing too much power in the federal government. Hoover returned to public service in the 1950s, serving on commissions aimed at increasing government efficiency for presidents Harry Truman (1884-1972) and Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969).

By the time Hoover died at age 90 on October 20, 1964, in New York City , assessments of his legacy had grown more favorable. Noting that after Hoover left the White House the Great Depression continued for eight more years despite Roosevelt’s active intervention, some historians have argued for a more sympathetic appraisal of Hoover’s presidency. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags Presidents' Occupations History and Government > U.S. Presidents Presidents' Occupations This table provides information about the occupations held by U.S. Presidents before and after their time in office. President Major Jobs Before the Presidency Jobs After the Presidency surveyor, planter, general of the Army of the United Colonies planter, lieutenant-general of all the U.S. armies John Adams schoolteacher, lawyer, diplomat, vice president under Washington writer Thomas Jefferson writer, inventor, lawyer, architect, governor of Virginia, secretary of state under Washington, vice president under Adams writer, gentleman farmer, rector at the University of Virginia James Madison lawyer, political theorist, U.S.

congressman, secretary of state under Jefferson rector at the University of Virginia James Monroe soldier, lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of Virginia writer, regent at the University of Virginia John Quincy Adams lawyer, diplomat, professor, U.S. senator, secretary of state under Monroe U.S. representative from Massachusetts soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, governor of Florida gentleman farmer lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of New York, vice president under Jackson activist for Free Soil Party William Henry Harrison soldier, diplomat, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Ohio died in office John Tyler lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Harrison lawyer, chancellor of the College of William and Mary, member of the Confederate House of Representatives James Knox Polk lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee died 103 days after leaving office Zachary Taylor lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio education activist, president of the National Prison Reform Association James Abram Garfield schoolteacher, soldier, U.S.

representative from Ohio died in office schoolteacher, lawyer, tariff collector, vice president under Garfield lawyer sheriff, lawyer, mayor, governor of New York reelected president lawyer, soldier, journalist, U.S. senator from Indiana lawyer, lecturer soldier, lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio died in office rancher, soldier, governor of New York, vice president under McKinley hunter, writer lawyer, judge, dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School, U.S. secretary of war professor, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Woodrow Wilson lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey retired in poor health newspaper editor, U.S. senator from Ohio died in office lawyer, governor of Massachusetts, vice president under Harding writer, president of the American Antiquarian Society Herbert Clark Hoover engineer, U.S. secretary of commerce chair of the Hoover Commission on administrative reform Franklin Delano Roosevelt lawyer, governor of New York died in office farmer, soldier, haberdasher, judge, U.S. senator, vice president under Roosevelt writer supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, U.S. Army chief of staff writer journalist, U.S. congressman, U.S.

senator from Massachusetts died in office schoolteacher, soldier, congressman, U.S. senator from Texas, vice president under Kennedy rancher, writer lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Eisenhower writer lawyer, U.S. congressman, vice president under Nixon writer peanut farmer, governor of Georgia writer, humanitarian, Nobel-prize winning statesman Ronald Wilson Reagan movie actor, corporate spokesman, governor of California writer George Herbert Walker Bush oil executive, U.S. congressman, U.S. ambassador to the UN, Director of CIA, vice president under Reagan private citizen; teamed with President Clinton to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds William Jefferson Clinton lawyer, governor of Arkansas writer, independent ambassador; teamed with President G.H.W. Bush to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds George Walker Bush oil executive, sport team owner, governor of Texas public speaker; written a book about his life entitled Decision Points Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. community organizer, civil rights lawyer, constitutional law professor, Illinois state senator, U.S. senator — President Herbert Hoover Key Dates 1895 Herbert Hoover graduated from Stanford University. 1917 President Wilson appointed Hoover as head of the U.S.

Food Administration to provide aid in WWI 1921 President Harding appoints Hoover Secretary of Commerce. 1928 Hoover is elected President. 1929 The stock market crashes and the Great Depression begins. 1932 Roosevelt defeats Hoover in the presidential election. 1964 Herbert Hoover died. 1929 - 1933 31st President Herbert Clark Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa on August 10, 1874. He was the first President born in Iowa and the first President to be born west of the Mississippi. River. When he was young a Native American boy taught his how to shoot prairie chickens with a bow and arrow. Herbert was orphaned as a child. He was nine years old. He was sent to Oregon to work on his uncle's farm. His uncle was not kind to him. Hoover word six days a week at hard labor clearing stumps and splitting logs. When asked by a reporter why he liked food so much, Hoover said that it was most likely because when he was a boy he was always hungry. Later his uncle went into real estate. He worked and sometimes slept in the office. He learned bookkeeping and typing.

He attended a business college at night. With help from a kind professor, he enter Stanford where he studied geology. That is where he met his future wife Low. He worked summers making maps. One time he thought he didn't have a job for the summer. When he found out at the last minute that he had a job near Lake Tahoe he walked 80 miles in three days to get to the job. During the depression he worked in a mine pushing handcars through the dark tunnels. He worked seven days a week. He later lied about his age and got a job as a mining engineer in China. In 1899, he made enough money to ask Lou Henry to marry him. They lived in China, London and other spots around the world. In the years 1907, 1908, and 1910 he did not spend a day in the United States. Herbert Hoover became rich as a mining engineer and running very productive mines. By 1912 he was worth over four million dollars. Herbert Hoover was a Quaker. Herbert Hoover was 5' 11" tall. During WW I Hover worked with the government on saving food and supplies for the troops.

He instituted meatless days and encouraged people to start victory gardens for food so more food could go towards the war effort. He created slogans like "Wheatless days in America make sleepless nights in Germany," and "Save beans by all means." Hoover developed a very positive reputation for his work in WW I. As Secretary of Commerce under President Harding he ordered that airline runways have lights and radio beams to guide the planes. He also created licenses for radio station so they wouldn't broadcast on the same wave length. After World War I (1919) he was an administrator for food and humanitarian aid in Europe. H raised close to $30 to feed families and children in Europe. He was so popular in Finland that the Fins added hoover to their dictionary. It means "help." It was estimated that he saved nine million lives in Europe. In 1922, Hoover, then Commerce Secretary, participated in the first successful long-distance television demonstration in New York. Hoover integrated the Census Bureau and asked the Red Cross to hire more African-Americans. He and his wife, Lou Hoover , lived in China before he became president. While there he and his wife learned to speak Mandarin Chinese.

They some times speak Chinese in the White House to prevent others from listening to their conversation. Herbert Hoover never promised a "chicken in every pot." It was a Republican Party ad not endorsed by Hoover during the election. Both the Democrat and Republican Parties wanted Hoover to run for president on their party ballot. In the 1929 presidential election he won in 40 of the 48 states. When he became president it was the first elected office he had ever held. Hoover was the first US President born west of the Mississippi. Since President Hoover was a Quaker he did not take an oath of office. He affirmed his presidency. Hoover was the first president to mention crime in a inaugural address. (Bootlegging and Al Capone were in the news at that time.) Herbert Hoover was the first president to have a telephone right on his desk. Herbert Hoover required White House servants to be "invisible." Whenever he or the first lady appeared, the servants would jump into the nearest closet to avoid being seen. During the depression when many people were going hungry, Hoover ate seven course meals that were some of the "most elaborate table ever set at the White House.

He and his wife were served by Marine duty officers that were all the same height. President Herbert Hoover, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone at Edison's 82nd birthday. Ft. Myers, Florida, February 11, 1929. Herbert Hoover Library. President Hoover was one of two Presidents who did not accept a salary for being President. He donated his salary to charity. He was a millionaire by time he was forty. He was the first President that was a millionaire. He enjoyed eating sweet potatoes with toasted marsh mellows. He loved to go fly fishing. President Hoover liked tossing a medicine ball as part of his morning workout. Hoover Hover's Vice President was Charles Curtis (1929-1933). Hoover's Secretary of State won a Nobel Peace Prize. He approved the "Star-Spangled Banner" as our national anthem. It became the national anthem in 1931. When Mrs. Hoover invited the black wife of a congressman to the White House for tea, he was officially denounced by the state legislature of Texas. Three southern legislatures adopted resolutions reprimanding the First Lady.

A southern newspaper stated she had "defiled the White House." Charles Curtis, Hoover's vice president, was the only nonwhite person to be elected vice president of the U.S. He was a Kaw Indian. When the Hoovers wanted to speak privately while in the presence of White House guests, they spoke Chinese. His son had 2 pet alligators that would sometimes wander around the White House. He also had several dogs: an Irish Wolfhound named Patrick. Fox Terriers named Sonnie and Big Ben. Eskimo dog named Yukon Elkhound named Weejie A common sign held up by hitchhikers during the fall of 1932 read: "If you don't give me a ride, I'll vote for Hoover." During the depression 3 out of every 4 auto workers were let go. One out of every four farmers lost their farms. When he went to Detroit to campaign at Olympia Stadium, the crowd chanted "Hang Hoover." In Wisconsin, his train was delayed because a man was detected removing spikes holding the tracks. The homeless built shantytowns out of scrap.

The shantytowns were named "Hoovervilles." One of the worst moves by Hoover involved veterans who were protesting to get pensions. They camped out on the out skirts of Washington. Hoover had the army drive the men out using mounted cavalrymen and tanks. His action was denounced by every newspaper in America. Hoover became very unpopular as the Great Depression continued. In 1929, he won 40 states in his election. In 1932, Hoover won 6 states. Herbert Hoover was the last President to have his term of office end on March 3 Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes re-named Hoover Dam to Boulder Dam in 1934. Congress restored the original name Hoover Dam in 1947. Hover had honorary degrees from fifty universities. Herbert Hoover died in New York, New York on October 20, 1964. He was 90 years old. He was one four presidents to reach age 90. He was buried on a hill overlooking the home he was born in years earlier. Hover was rated by some as a failed president. In one poll of academics he was rated as the worst president.

It is worth remembering that after WW I and WW II he feed more people and save more lives than anyone else in history. Quotes from Herbert Hoover: "It is just as important that business keep out of government at that government keep out of business." Speech, October 22, 1928 "Being a politician is a poor profession. Being a public servant is a noble one. "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt." "No public man can be just a little crooked." "Those who retire without some occupation can spend their time only in talking about their ills and pills." Herbert Hoover Biography – 31st U.S. President Timeline & Life Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st president of the United States of America. It was during his term (March 4, 1929 – March 3, 1933) that the stock market crashed and led the country into the infamous Great Depression. Early Life and Childhood Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa on August 10, 1874. He was the first and only Iowan President in the history of the United States.

His parents, both Quakers, are Jesse and Hulda Hoover. Jesse Hoover, who was of German-Swiss descent, was a blacksmith, and farm implement dealer. His mother, born in Norwich, Ontario Canada, was believed to have come from Scotch-Irish and English bloodlines. Hoover was six when his father died from a heart attack. Three years later, his mother also passed away due to pneumonia. Initially, a fellow Quaker, Laurie Tatum, was named his guardian and took care of him until he later lived with one of his grandmothers in Kingsley, Iowa. His paternal uncle, Allen Hoover, who lived in West branch, took care of young Herbert for eighteen months. Three years after his parents died, he left Iowa to live with his maternal uncle and aunt, John and Laura Minthorn in Oregon. Hernert attended the Friends Pacific Academy over the next two years. He later worked as an office assistant for the Oregon Land Company. Oregon Land Company is a real estate company located in Salem and owned by his uncle. He was not able to attend high school but learned bookkeeping, math and typing by attending night school.

As an orphan, this led the young Hoover become self-reliant, industrious and independent. He maintained the values imparted by his religious mother. He grew up with great concern for less fortunate people. His passion for helping the poor, the abandoned and the oppressed, helped mold his character, evident throughout his life. This passion led him to be known as the most humanitarian President in the History of the United States. He remained simple in all his ways and embraced the humble demeanour Quakers are known for. This is evident in his speech, dressing, and socializing. In 1891, Hoover entered Stanford University. This is where he met his soon to be wife, Lou Henry Hoover. While he was at Stanford, he was the manager for the football and baseball teams. In 1895, both Hoover and his girlfriend, Lou Henry, graduated with a degree in Geology. Occupation After graduating from Stanford University, Hoover became a Mining Engineer. In 1897, he flew to Australia to serve as a Geologist and Mining Engineer for the London-based mining company, Bewick, Moreing, & Co. He was 23 years old when he was appointed as a mine manager.

He worked at the gold mines in Big Bell, Cue, Leonora, Menzies and Coolgardie. It was during this time that he married Lou Henry. They had two sons, Herbert, Jr. and Allan Henry. They were transferred to China where Hoover became the company’s head engineer. When the Boxer Rebellion broke out in Tianjin on 1900, Hoover helped the US Marines battle the enemy as he guided them using his familiarity with the territory. By 1901, Bewick, Moreing & Co. bestowed their trust on him as they made him a partner assuming responsibility for the Australia operations. He became an independent mining consultant in 1908. He has several publications related to mining under his name, including his’ (and his wife’s) English translation of the mining classic, De re Metallica. Philanthropies During World War I, Hoover assisted in organizing the homecoming of more than one hundred thousand Americans trapped in Europe. He headed hundreds of volunteers as they distributed relief goods, clothing and cash. When Germany invaded Belgium, food became scarce leaving many Belgians starving. Hoover made every effort to ensure that food was sent to Belgium through the formation of the Commission for Relief in Belgium.

While managing this commission, they were able to feed the entire country during the invasion. He became an international hero as he helped feed a lot of war victims persuading German authorities to allow them to ship relief goods to areas where there was a scarcity of supply. By April 1917, the United States of America opted to enter the war. Then President Woodrow Wilson tasked Hoover to head the US Food Administration. Grounded in his belief that “food will win the war”, Hoover started encouraging people to avoid eating certain foods that they needed for their food distributions. Labelled as Hooverizing, this program reduced consumption of food needed for the war ration. When the war concluded, Hoover arranged food shipments for many starving European people located in Central Europe. They also sent relief for many nations regardless of their participation in the war; whether ally or foe, he made sure that wherever there are people starving, no matter what their politics were, they would be fed. This led him to be known as among the “Ten Most Important Living Americans” by the New York Times. When he returned home in 1919, he was made aware that the Democratic Party was eyeing him to become the successor to President Wilson.

Franklin D Roosevelt were among those who preferred that he run for presidency under the Democratic flag. His background prevented Hoover from becoming a Democrat. He felt at that time that there is no way he can run for a party that did not have share his principles. Before the war, he had been a registered Republican; there was no way that a war could change that. Secretary of Commerce Hoover helped Warren G. Harding’s presidential race when he publicly endorsed him. After Harding was elected as president, he returned the favour by offering him to choose between becoming the Secretary of the Interior Government or the Secretary of Commerce. The Department of Commerce at that time was fairly new, as it had been operating for only eight years. During that time, the Secretary of Commerce was considered a minor Cabinet post with limited tasks that were not clearly defined. Hoover envisioned Commerce as the country’s next source of growth. He took the post and made tremendous efforts in redefining the department. By the time he ended his service as the Secretary of Commerce, he was able to elevate the status of the department, making it one of the major departments responsible for the country’s unparalleled economic success.

The Presidency In 1928, Hoover was nominated as the Flag bearer of the Republican Party in the Presidential Election. He ran for the presidency with Senator Charles Curtis as his running mate. They positioned themselves as pro-business. Hoover was proven to be in better shape compared to his opponent Alfred E. Smith. Hoover’s campaign would focus on promising farmers improved conditions, the reformation of the immigration law, and maintaining a strong foreign policy at the time. Hoover won the presidency, managing to crack the “Solid South” by winning votes in Southern Democratic states such as Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida. A year after he was elected, the stock market crashed. It was considered as the worst downfall in the history of stock trading. Hoover took all possible actions to deal with the worsening economic predicament. He urged private sectors and business leaders to participate by cutting off wages or to lay off workers. The crisis was made even worst when the Great Depression surfaced in 1932. Despite all the efforts, the economy failed to counter Hoover’s initiatives. As time went by, the economic catastrophe led the United States of America to suffer the kind of poverty and hunger it had never experienced before.

People began blaming Hoover’s policy and governance for the crisis. As the US economy deflated, calls for government assistance increased. More people were asking the government to dole out money to assist them in their daily lives. Hoover declined all requests to pay individuals as he claimed that in doing so, people would lose the incentive to work. To cover up for this, he created policies that aim to lift the nation out of the economic distress. The Mexican Repatriation Program and Smooth-Hawley Tariff Acts were two of the most important policies he created. However, since the Great Depression had spread around the globe, all efforts to salvage what was left of the US economy failed. In an effort to save Americans from becoming homeless, Hoover approved the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to start new home construction and reduce property foreclosures. Even with the passing of the Bill, people felt that it was “too little too late”. Before leaving the office of the President, he made strenuous attempts to save the economy. He passed the Emergency Relief and Construction Act and created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Although it made some impact, the effect was not as significant as he had desired. Hoover left the White House as president in March 1933.

He brought with him disappointments and resentment over the fact that the American people did not acknowledge the efforts he made in an attempt to provide them with a better economy and governance amidst the crisis that made the entire world suffer. Hoover, together with his family went to New York and settled in Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. After a brief stay, they later returned to live at their home in Palo Alto, California. As a private citizen, he enjoyed driving around visiting mining camps or small towns. Until the time of his death, he spent most of his days heading up the mountains or fishing. Hoover died on October 20, 1964 at the age of 90. His death was declared after he suffered massive internal bleeding. At the time of his death, he was able to vindicate himself and essentially improve his public image. His remains were buried at the Herbert Hoover President Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa. He was honoured with a state funeral.

3 responses to “Herbert Hoover” “However, he was able to keep the values previously imparted by her very religious mother.” —- Herbert Hoover: Life Before the Presidency—Miller Center About the Administration Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874. For the first nine years of his life, he lived in the small town of West Branch, Iowa, the place of his birth. His Quaker father, Jessie Clark Hoover, a blacksmith and farm equipment salesman, suffered a heart attack and died when Herbert was six years old. Three years later, the boy's mother, Huldah Minthorn Hoover, developed pneumonia and also passed away, orphaning Herbert, his older brother Theodore, and little sister Mary. Passed around among relatives for a few years, Hoover ended up with his uncle, Dr. John Minthorn, who lived in Oregon. The young Hoover was shy, sensitive, introverted, and somewhat suspicious, characteristics that developed, at least in part, in reaction to the loss of his parents at such a young age. He attended Friends Pacific Academy in Newberg, Oregon, earning average to failing grades in all subjects except math.

Determined, nevertheless, to go to the newly established Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, Hoover studied hard and barely passed the university's entrance exam. He went on to major in geology and participated in a host of extracurricular activities, serving as class treasurer of the junior and senior student bodies and managing the school baseball and football teams. To pay his tuition, Hoover worked as a clerk in the registration office and showed considerable entrepreneurial skill by starting a student laundry service. Career and Monetary Success During the summers, Hoover worked as a student assistant on geological survey teams in Arkansas, California, and Nevada. After his graduation in 1895, he looked hard to find work as a surveyor but ended up laboring seventy hours a week at a gold mine near Nevada City, California, pushing ore carts. Luck came his way with an office job in San Francisco, putting him in touch with a firm in need of an engineer to inspect and evaluate mines for potential purchase. Hoover then moved to Australia in 1897 and China in 1899, where he worked as a mining engineer until 1902. A string of similar jobs took him all over the world and helped Hoover become a giant in his field.

He opened his own mining consulting business in 1908; by 1914, Hoover was financially secure, earning his wealth from high-salaried positions, his ownership of profitable Burmese silver mines, and royalties from writing the leading textbook on mining engineering. His wife, Lou Henry Hoover, traveled with him everywhere he went. Herbert and Lou met in college, where she was the sole female geology major at Stanford. He proposed to her by cable from Australia as he prepared to move to China; she accepted by return wire and they married in 1899. The couple was in China during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, a time when Lou helped nurse wounded Western diplomats and soldiers while Herbert assisted in the fighting to defend Tianjin, a city near the uprising. By the time the couple returned home to America in 1917, Lou had learned to shoot a gun and had mastered eight languages. Humanitarian Efficiency Over the course of his career as a mining engineer and businessman, Hoover's intellect and understanding of the world matured considerably.

Hoover was raised a Quaker and although he rarely went to Meeting as an adult, he internalized that faith's belief in the power of the individual, the importance of freedom, and the value of "conscientious work" and charity. Hoover also applied the ethos of engineering to the world in general, believing that scientific expertise, when employed thoughtfully and properly, led to human progress. Hoover worked comfortably in a capitalist economy but believed in labor's right to organize and hoped that cooperation (between labor and management and among competitors) might come to characterize economic relations. During these years, Hoover repeatedly made known to friends his desire for public service. Politically, Hoover identified with the progressive wing of the Republican Party, supporting Theodore Roosevelt's third-party bid in 1912. World War I brought Hoover to prominence in American politics and thrust him into the international spotlight. In London when the war broke out, he was asked by the U.S. consul to organize the evacuation of 120,000 Americans trapped in Europe. Germany's devastating invasion of Belgium led Hoover to pool his money with several wealthy friends to organize the Committee for the Relief of Belgium.

Working without direct government support, Hoover raised millions of dollars for food and medicine to help desperate Belgians. In 1917, after the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson asked Hoover to run the U.S. Food Administration. Hoover performed quite admirably, guiding the effort to conserve resources and supplies needed for the war and to feed America's European allies. Hoover even became a household name during the war; nearly all Americans knew that the verb "to Hooverize" meant the rationing of household materials. After the armistice treaty was signed in November 1918, officially ending World War I, Wilson appointed Hoover to head the European Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. In this capacity, Hoover channeled 34 million tons of American food, clothing, and supplies to war-torn Europe, aiding people in twenty nations. His service during World War I made Hoover one of the few Republicans trusted by Wilson. Because of Hoover's knowledge of world affairs, Wilson relied him at the Versailles Peace Conference and as director of the President's Supreme Economic Council in 1918.

The following year, Hoover founded the Hoover Library on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University as an archive for the records of World War I. This privately endowed organization later became the Hoover Institution, devoted to the study of peace and war. No isolationist, Hoover supported American participation in the League of Nations. He believed, though, that Wilson's stubborn idealism led Congress to reject American participation in the League. Secretary of Commerce In 1920, Hoover emerged as a contender for the Republican presidential nomination. His run was blocked, however, by fellow a Californian, Senator Hiram Johnson, who objected to Hoover's support for the League. Republican Warren Harding won the White House in 1920 and appointed Hoover as his secretary of commerce, a position that Hoover retained under Harding's successor, President Calvin Coolidge. Under Hoover's leadership, the Department of Commerce became as influential and important a government agency as the Departments of State and Treasury. Hoover encouraged research into measures designed to counteract harmful business cycles. He supported government regulation of new industries like aviation and radio. He brought together more than one hundred different industries and convinced them to adopt standardized tools, hardware, building materials, and automobile parts.

Finally, he aggressively pursued international trade opportunities for American business. To win these reforms, Hoover strengthened existing agencies in the Commerce Department, like the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, or simply established new ones, like the Bureau of Standards, for the standardization project. He also formed commissions that brought together government officials, experts, and leaders of the relevant economic sectors to work towards reform. The initiatives Hoover supported as commerce secretary—and the ways in which he pursued them—reveal his thinking about contemporary life in the United States and about the federal government's role in American society. Hoover hoped to create a more organized economy that would regularize the business cycle, eliminating damaging ebbs and flows and generating higher rates of economic growth. He believed that eradicating waste and improving efficiency would achieve some of these results— thus, his support for standardization and for statistical research into the workings of the economy. He also believed that the American economy would be healthier if business leaders worked together, and with government officials and experts from the social sciences, in a form of private-sector economic planning. This stance led him to support trade associations—industry-wide cooperative groups wherein information on prices, markets, and products could be exchanged among competitors—which Hoover saw as a middle way between competition and monopoly.

He insisted, though, that participation in these associations remain voluntary and that the government merely promote and encourage, rather than require, their establishment. Hoover hoped that these innovations would strengthen what he saw as the central component of the American experience: individualism. In 1922, Hoover published a small book, entitled American Individualism, that examined the Western intellectual tradition's major social philosophies, including individualism, socialism, communism, capitalism, and autocracy. Hoover concluded that individualism was the superior principle around which to organize society. He rejected the laissez-faire capitalism of the Right and the socialism and communism of the Left because he believed that these ideologies hindered rather than helped the individual. Instead, Hoover sought a "balance of perspective" between Right and Left that theoretically would create and maintain opportunities for Americans to succeed. Through enterprises like those he championed as commerce secretary, Hoover believed the federal government could facilitate the creation of political, social, and economic conditions in which individual Americans could flourish. Hoover's positions and thinking placed him solidly in the progressive camp of the Republican Party. As secretary of commerce, Hoover emerged as a potential running-mate for Coolidge in the 1924 presidential election, though that effort fell short.

Hoover's reputation with the American people reached its peak in 1927, when he took charge of relief efforts following disastrous floods along the Mississippi River. The episode displayed Hoover at his best: as a humanitarian and leader with the ability to solve problems. When Coolidge announced in 1927 that he would not seek reelection, Hoover became the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Herbert Hoover Essays Hoover Timeline - The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum Hoover Timeline Herbert Clark Hoover August 10, 1874 Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, Iowa, the second of three children on August 10, 1874. December 13, 1880 Herbert's father, Jesse Hoover, a blacksmith and farm implement store owner, died. February, 24, 1884 Hoover's mother, Hulda Minthorn Hoover, died. November 10, 1885 November 10, 1885 Hoover left Iowa to live with his uncle John Minthorn in Newberg, Oregon, where he attended Friends Pacific Academy.

September 1888 John Minthorn helped start the Oregon Land Company in Salem, Oregon where Hoover worked as an office boy while attending the Capital Business College. Hoover entered Stanford University as a member of its pioneer class. Hoover graduated from Stanford with a degree in geology. 1896 Hoover took a job as an office boy for California mining engineer Louis Janin and was promoted to an engineering position. February 1897 On Janin's recommendation, Hoover was hired by British mining firm of Bewick, Moering & Co., and sent to gold fields of Australia. February 1899 February 10, 1899 Hoover married Lou Henry, his college sweetheart and fellow geology student, in the parlor of her parents' home in Monterey, California. February 11, 1899 the Hoovers left for China, where Hoover had been assigned to serve as a mining consultant to the Chinese government. The Hoovers were besieged in Tientsen, China during the Boxer Rebellion. December 18, 1901 Hoover became a partner in Bewick, Moering supervising the firm's worldwide operations.

He became known as a "Doctor of Sick Mines." Herbert Hoover, Jr. was born in London. Allan Hoover was born in London. Hoover retired from Bewick, Moering and began free lance consulting. 1913 Herbert and Lou Hoover's English translation of De Re Metallica, a sixteenth century Latin text on mining, was published. 1914 August 3, 1914 The Hoover's helped Americans stranded in Europe at the beginning of World War I to return home. November 5, 1914 Hoover organized the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which provided food to four million civilians in Belgium and northern France. May 5, 1917 After the U.S. entered World War I, Hoover was appointed by President Wilson to be United States Food Administrator to coordinate production and conservation of food supplies. July 12, 1919 Hoover founded American Relief Administration which fed 17 million people in 21 countries in the aftermath of the war. March 5, 1921 Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Harding; he served in the Cabinets of both Harding and Coolidge.

1922 American Individualism is published, a book in which Hoover outlines the characteristics that made American society unique and successful. Son Herbert Hoover, Jr., married Margaret Eva Watson. April 27, 1927 The Mississippi River flooded over 20,000 square miles of land, killing more than 300 people and putting another 600,000 out of their homes. Hoover coordinates the relief efforts of eight government agencies, the Red Cross and 91 local communities. 1928 June 14, 1928 Hoover was nominated for president on the first ballot at the Republican Party National Convention in Kansas City. November 6, 1928 Hoover was elected President of the United States. November 19, 1928 Hoover began a seven week tour of Latin America and promised to establish policies that would make the U.S. a good neighbor. 1929 March 4, 1929 Herbert Hoover was inaugurated as 31st President of the United States.

June 15, 1929 After Hoover called a special session of Congress, the Agricultural Marketing Act was passed, which established a Federal Farm Board that worked to stabilize agricultural prices. October The Wall Street stock market crashed, which signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. November 19, 1929 Hoover began a series of meetings with business, labor and government leaders called the conference for Continued Industrial Progress in which he secured pledges to maintain current employment and wage levels. 1930 January 1930 Hoover instituted a vigorous public works program in which he authorized $635 million for construction projects. February 3, 1930 Hoover appointed Charles Evans Hughes Chief Justice of the Supreme court. June 17, 1930 Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff into law which set tariffs to historically high levels. July 21, 1930 Hoover combined all federal Veteran's services into one agency, the Veterans Administration. September 17, 1930 The Hoover Dam in Navada was dedicated, marking the start of construction. It was completed in 1936.

October 21, 1930 Hoover created the President's Emergency Committee for Employment, which promoted private sector responses to unemployment. 1931 March 3, 1931 President Hoover signed legislation designating The Star Spangled Banner as the national anthem. August 19, 1931 Hoover established the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief to stimulate and coordinate employment and relief activities. 1932 January 22, 1932 The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was created to make loans to struggling businesses. June 16, 1932 Hoover was nominated for president on the first ballot at the Republican Party National Convention in Chicago. July 28, 1932 Hoover ordered federal troops to clear from Washington, D.C., the Bonus Army that was occupying federal buildings and petitioning for an early cash payment of their bonus certificate due in 1945. November 8, 1932 Hoover lost his bid for re-election to Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1934 Hoover published The Challenge to Liberty, in which he warned that the fundamental principals of liberty were being undermined by fascism, Nazism, socialism, and the New Deal.

1936 October 19, 1936 Hoover was elected chairman of Boys' Clubs of America, a position he held until his death. March 17, 1937 Allan Hoover married Margaret Coberly in California. January 7, 1944 Lou Henry Hoover died.. 1946 March 17, 1946 Hoover began a world famine survey at President Truman's request. He traveled 35,000 miles through 38 countries over 57 days compiling projected food needs. 1947 July 17, 1947 President Truman appointed Hoover chairman of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, also known as the First Hoover Commission. 1953 September 29. 1953 President Eisenhower named Hoover to head the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, also known as the Second Hoover Commission. 1962 August 10, 1962 Hoover was joined by his friend Harry Truman and together they dedicated the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch, Iowa.

Engineering as a Profession | Hoover Presidential Foundation Engineering as a Profession Article in Engineer's Week 1954 Engineering training deals with the exact sciences. That sort of exactness makes for truth and conscience. It might be good for the world if more men had that sort of mental start in life even if they did not pursue the profession. But he who would enter these precincts as a life work must have a test taken of his imaginative faculties, for engineering without imagination sinks to a trade. And those who would enter here must for years abandon their white collars except for Sunday. The profession means years on the lower rungs of the ladder-shops, works, and powerhouses-white collars are not a part of the engineer uniform. On the other hand, the engineer learns through work with his own hands not only the mind of the worker but the multitude of true gentlemen among them. And men who love a fight with nature, who like to build and see their building grow, men who do not hold themselves above manual labor, men who have the moral courage to do these things soundly, some day will be above to move to town, wear white collars every day, and send out the youngsters to the lower rungs and the frontiers of industry.

It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege. The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope that the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny that he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned. That is the phantasmagoria that haunts his nights and dogs his days. He comes from the job at the end of the day resolved to calculate it again. He wakes in the night in a cold sweat and puts something on paper that looks silly in the morning.

All day he shivers at the thought of the bugs which will inevitably appear to jolt its smooth consummation. On the other hand, unlike the doctor, his is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort, and hope. No doubt as years go by people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people's money with which to finance it. But the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness which flows from his successes with satisfactions that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants. The engineer performs many public functions from which he gets only philosophical satisfactions. Most people do not know it, but he is an economic and social force. Every time he discovers a new application of science, thereby creating a new industry, providing new jobs, adding to the standards of living, he also disturbs everything that is.

New laws and regulations have to be made and new sorts of wickedness curbed. He is also the person who really corrects monopolies and redistributes national wealth. Presidents' Occupations History and Government > U.S. Presidents Presidents' Occupations This table provides information about the occupations held by U.S. Presidents before and after their time in office. President Major Jobs Before the Presidency Jobs After the Presidency surveyor, planter, general of the Army of the United Colonies planter, lieutenant-general of all the U.S. armies John Adams schoolteacher, lawyer, diplomat, vice president under Washington writer Thomas Jefferson writer, inventor, lawyer, architect, governor of Virginia, secretary of state under Washington, vice president under Adams writer, gentleman farmer, rector at the University of Virginia James Madison lawyer, political theorist, U.S. congressman, secretary of state under Jefferson rector at the University of Virginia James Monroe soldier, lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of Virginia writer, regent at the University of Virginia John Quincy Adams lawyer, diplomat, professor, U.S. senator, secretary of state under Monroe U.S. representative from Massachusetts soldier, U.S. congressman, U.S.

senator, governor of Florida gentleman farmer lawyer, U.S. senator, governor of New York, vice president under Jackson activist for Free Soil Party William Henry Harrison soldier, diplomat, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Ohio died in office John Tyler lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Harrison lawyer, chancellor of the College of William and Mary, member of the Confederate House of Representatives James Knox Polk lawyer, U.S. congressman, governor of Tennessee died 103 days after leaving office Zachary Taylor lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman, governor of Ohio education activist, president of the National Prison Reform Association James Abram Garfield schoolteacher, soldier, U.S. representative from Ohio died in office schoolteacher, lawyer, tariff collector, vice president under Garfield lawyer sheriff, lawyer, mayor, governor of New York reelected president lawyer, soldier, journalist, U.S. senator from Indiana lawyer, lecturer soldier, lawyer, U.S.

congressman, governor of Ohio died in office rancher, soldier, governor of New York, vice president under McKinley hunter, writer lawyer, judge, dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School, U.S. secretary of war professor, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Woodrow Wilson lawyer, professor, president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey retired in poor health newspaper editor, U.S. senator from Ohio died in office lawyer, governor of Massachusetts, vice president under Harding writer, president of the American Antiquarian Society Herbert Clark Hoover engineer, U.S. secretary of commerce chair of the Hoover Commission on administrative reform Franklin Delano Roosevelt lawyer, governor of New York died in office farmer, soldier, haberdasher, judge, U.S. senator, vice president under Roosevelt writer supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, U.S. Army chief of staff writer journalist, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator from Massachusetts died in office schoolteacher, soldier, congressman, U.S. senator from Texas, vice president under Kennedy rancher, writer lawyer, U.S. congressman, U.S. senator, vice president under Eisenhower writer lawyer, U.S.

congressman, vice president under Nixon writer peanut farmer, governor of Georgia writer, humanitarian, Nobel-prize winning statesman Ronald Wilson Reagan movie actor, corporate spokesman, governor of California writer George Herbert Walker Bush oil executive, U.S. congressman, U.S. ambassador to the UN, Director of CIA, vice president under Reagan private citizen; teamed with President Clinton to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds William Jefferson Clinton lawyer, governor of Arkansas writer, independent ambassador; teamed with President G.H.W. Bush to form tsunami and Hurricane Katrina aid funds George Walker Bush oil executive, sport team owner, governor of Texas public speaker; written a book about his life entitled Decision Points Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. community organizer, civil rights lawyer, constitutional law professor, Illinois state senator, U.S. senator —

Question: What was US President Hoover's original profession?
Answer: ENGINEER